Weapons' control amendments miss target

Laws for tighter weapon control have been postponed to 2010, the Home Affairs Ministry said, failing to deliver on a promise made last Christmas.

In the wake of the shooting in Mqabba on December 20 last year, when a man opened fire on a Nationalist Party club, the ministry had told The Sunday Times it aimed to publish amendments regulating the possession, access to, and use of weapons this year.

There are almost 100,000 weapons in Malta, which includes more than 82,000 registered firearms, according to figures released by Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici in Parliament earlier this month.

In December 2008, the ministry was about to start consultations with stakeholders. A spokesman now said the ministry was awaiting proposals for amendments to the legislation from the Weapons Board, which includes members representing the relevant stakeholders.

The board told The Sunday Times its recommendations would be presented to the minister "early" next year.

Steve Petroni, board member and president of the Association of Maltese Arms Collectors and Shooters (AMACS), said: "The consultation between different stakeholders has been held.

You are never going to please everybody, but a consensus has been reached on what needs to be done... Generally, our recommendations are all about greater security and removing inefficiency because of red tape."

Mr Petroni said the most important change that would occur in 2010 was that private shooting ranges, where people practice the sport, would be officially licensed.

However, not everybody agrees this is the most important development. Loopholes in the regulations controlling the acquisition and use of a shotgun (senter) make it extremely easy to own one legitimately.

Leading crime historian Eddie Attard agreed these loopholes were being exploited for the possession of weapons.

"I have been saying this for a long time. People are using the excuse of hunting to get shotguns. They keep saying it is the people who kill, not the guns. But the function of a shotgun is to kill, whether it is birds or people. When tempers rise, it is too easy to go home grab the shotgun and use it," the retired police constable said.

Any person over 18 can apply to own a shotgun by filling out a form at the dealer or the police. If the person has a clean police conduct he will be asked to attend a training course at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

The focus of the course is to understand what birds can be shot and when. It is, in fact, called an environment test, rather than a weapons-handling course.

Mr Attard said gun violence was increasing. Since 2000, 37 people have been killed by firearms - the weapon of choice in the majority of shootings is shotguns. In most cases, the weapons were not registered.

According to official figures, there are 53,134 shotguns registered on the island - and it is difficult to estimate the real figure when including illegal weapons.

When the hunting federation trumpets figures related to its membership, it says its members hit the 12,000 mark. So even if figures are not inflated, there are still shotguns in residences that have not been purchased to kill birds.

Only last month, six shots were fired in Safi in what appears to have been a dispute between two families.